The Court of International Trade again remanded the Commerce Department's decision to continue using adverse facts available against countervailing duty respondent The Ancientree Cabinet Co. related to its alleged receipt of benefits under China's Export Buyer's Credit Program. In a July 22 decision made public July 30, Judge Richard Eaton instructed the agency to "determine a customer-specific rate that excludes" the EBCP subsidy amount for Ancientree's U.S buyers "whose non-use" of the program was verified.
Customs Duty
A Customs Duty is a tariff or tax which a country imposes on goods when they are transported across international borders. Customs Duties are used to protect countries' economies, residents, jobs, and environments, by limiting the flow of imported merchandise, especially restricted and prohibited goods, into the country. The Customs Duty Rate is a percentage determined by the value of the article purchased in the foreign country and not based on quality, size, or weight.
The following lawsuit was recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
A Chinese garlic exporter filed a complaint July 31 in the Court of International Trade claiming that the Commerce Department wrongly determined in an antidumping duty review that its U.S. sales were not bona fide and denied it a separate rate (Jining Huahui International Co. v. U.S., CIT # 24-00111).
The Court of International Trade on July 30 sustained the Commerce Department's first review of the antidumping duty order on glycine from Japan. Judge Stephen Vaden said Commerce appropriately decided on remand to remove exporter Nagase's compensation for payment expenses from the company's general and administrative expense ratio. Vaden also ruled that Nagase failed to exhaust its administrative remedies regarding its request that Commerce reconsider the assessment rate.
The World Trade Organization on July 26 published a joint statement initiative on e-commerce -- the first "stabilised text" released following five years of negotiations on an e-commerce deal. The deal's eight sections cover general scope, e-commerce, "openness," trust, transparency, telecommunications, exceptions and institutional arrangements.
A Colombian paper shopping bag exporter said in a complaint July 29 that the Commerce Department miscalculated the exporter’s dumping margin by failing to conduct a level of trade adjustment to its home market sales (Ditar v. U.S., CIT # 24-00130).
The Court of International Trade in a July 17 decision made public July 25 sent back the Commerce Department's use of exporter Prochamp's German sales as the comparison market in an antidumping duty investigation. Judge M. Miller Baker said that since the agency didn't know what percentage of the company's German sales were actually for consumption in Germany, Commerce's use of the comparison market was unsupported.
The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated July 23 with the following headquarters rulings (ruling revocations and modifications will be detailed elsewhere in a separate article as they are announced in the Customs Bulletin):
The Court of International Trade on July 23 said CBP didn't have the authority to extend an order from the court enjoining liquidation of various entries to imports entered by Acquisition 362, doing business as Strategic Import Supply. Judge Mark Barnett dismissed the case for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction, finding that because Acquisition 362 wasn't a party to a separate case challenging the antidumping duty rate assessed on the company's goods, it wasn't subject to the court's order suspending liquidation of various tire entries.
The Court of International Trade in a confidential July 22 opinion remanded the Commerce Department's decision to continue using adverse facts available against countervailing duty respondent The Ancientree Cabinet Co. related to its alleged receipt of benefits under China's Export Buyer's Credit Program. Judge Richard Eaton said he intends to issue a public version of the decision "in the near future," giving the parties until July 29 to review the opinion for confidential information (Dalian Meisen Woodworking Co. v. U.S., CIT # 20-00110).